Canine Cove

Curtain Call

I’ve owned clubs, studios, estates, retailers, marketing firms, investment firms, and taken part in incredibly wondrous artistic creations I will remember forever, all within the world you know as Second Life.

I’m 28 years old at the moment of writing this,
I’ve been doing this “SL thing” for seven years.

Seven long years paved in blood, sweat, money, and tears while I’ve been in and out of the hospital, struggled with depression, lived through life-changing natural disasters, and found love and lost it… Most of which I did without making a sound, or enjoying a thank you.

Paved with good intentions while playing to an empty theater, and this is how we got here…

The community I fell in love with so many years ago… The community of builders, creators, and dreams has long since given way to a newer generation. A generation more interested in logging in, getting off, and logging out. It’s given way to a new direction of social media and human interactions that dehumanizes how we function as a collective into disassociating with the people that want us kept the closest, and instead, replacing that time and emotional commitment with simple satisfaction.

Simple satisfactions from games, from sex, from other more accessible things. Things that require far less personal investment and involvement… We’ve moved on with life. We’ve gone on to create careers, to pursue our interests, and conquer the world. And we’ve done that in the shadow of a newer generation taking our place with vastly different interests, intentions, and pursuits. Pursuits that I don’t share.

Pursuits that do not harbor the dreamers we once knew of Learn Avatar, the NPCs, and the active roleplaying guilds. Pursuits that create new wondrous and beautiful things that enrich the community instead of a wallet. We wanted more.

Canine Cove wasn’t a sex spot, it wasn’t a place to go to find other frisky singles with “Not looking for RL!!!” plastered across their profiles or people looking to destroy beautiful creations… It was a haven for dreamers. It was a world of like-minded creators and believers that Second Life had more to offer. It was my home, turned family, turned thriving community based on a simple pursuit of a meaningful happiness.

As time has gone on, this generation of dreams has dissipated, and in it’s path a steady stream of people looking for intimate relations and leaving to find it elsewhere, making it’s carved path clear with the surge of sex clubs and major retailers while communities strangled and died. While the thing that made Canine Cove great, it’s people, have gone on to pursue their desires, I’ve concluded the most logical step is to discontinue playing to an empty theater. It is for this reason, that Canine Cove will be saying goodbye.

After an incredible amount of personal reflection and consideration,
I feel like my incredible amount of time, money, and resources will be better spent elsewhere and I don’t foresee that changing.
Where it might be more enjoyable, where it might be more enjoyed, and where I might be able to give back in the way that has always made me happy.

And with this it is with great sadness I announce
Canine Cove will close on November 25th 2014,
taking with it it’s many servers, assets, and destinations.

I want to thank all of you, from the bottom of my heart, for the opportunity to provide you all an incredible place to go. I have many fond memories as I’m sure many of you do, and I’ll always reflect on my time with all of you most fondly as some of the best friends and family I’ll ever have. Until then, please take this time to reflect in all of the fond memories we’ll always have, the many incredible friendships that have been made, and take photos of the place we called home for so long.

Thank you, happy holidays, and I wish you all the best in 2015 and onward.
Signing off one last time, Rider.